Cynthia - thanks for being a part of the bigger problem - that people focus on (D) or (R) after somebody's name, rather than first considering what somebody is saying, then passing judgment. Congrats - you're part of the reason our nation is in shambles over petty partisan bickering!

Cynthia, at least you're paying attention! In response to your remark that Colbeck offers no solutions, I would offer that there are so many PROBLEMS that solutions would have to be encompassed in another note. The Republicans have offered many solutions (health savings accounts, tort reform, allowing insurance companies to contract across state lines) but the D's want complete control government in Washington. I don't know about you but I'm not happy with decisions about MY LIFE being conducted in far off DC lala land where money grows on trees and people are numbers!

Time magazine marked 90 years in print this month with the longest and perhaps most talked about story it has ever published.
Steven Brill’s 24,000-word Special Report, “Bitter Pill: Why medical bills are killing us,” has spawned hundreds of articles and thousands of discussions on its key question: Why are our medical bills so high?

Here’s some of what you’ll see:
•One patient was charged $7,997 by a non-profit hospital for a stress test for which Medicare would have paid out $544. Another patient was charged $6,538 by a non-profit for three CT scans. Medicare would have paid $825 for all three.
•There are plenty of examples of gross overcharging One patient was charged $24 for a single niacin tablet — a tablet retails for five cents at a drug store.
•Our high-dollar medical care doesn’t translate into longer life expectancy. Americans spent just over $8,000 per person on health care in 2010, and had a life expectancy of 79 years. Spaniards spent just under $3,000 and live to 82.
•An out-patient at an Oklahoma hospital had a one-day bill of $86,951. The costliest line item was for a Medtronic stimulator surgically implanted for back pain. Patient’s cost for the device: $49,237. Wholesale list price: $19,000. The entire bill goes downhill from there, including a $39 charge for the surgeon’s gown. You can buy 30 surgeon gowns online for $180, according to Brill.
•Health spending has risen at five times the rate of the GDP since 1960.

Buy the book, K. Schweim. ObamaCare Survial Guide. The Pros are none except for people that are here illegally. We pay for all of them regardless of their condition. The Cons are the whole health care bill. We pay the people that passed the bill exempted themselves from the bill and their familys and we also pay there health care. What could be good about Obama-Care? They needy have always had help and never paid. It is plain and simple - more government control the the peoples lives.

The book is by Nick Tate, not K. Schweim. Here is one review: Boldly one-sided in this presidential election year, this book lobs stink bombs from the start at president Obama and the Democratic Party. Journalist Tate (The Sick Building Syndrome) lays out at the beginning who he thinks will benefit from the Healthcare Reform Act: essentially, no one, except the uninsured. And taxpayers will be harmed. Tate's leaps of logic are frequent; acknowledging, for instance, that life expectancy in the U.S. is lower than that of 36 other advanced nations, he says it is still higher than the world average, implying that it's reasonable to compare American lifespan with that of the world's poorest nations. He states that a focus on prevention, and required preventive screening, will increase costs, though many major insurance companies already pay 100% of the cost of these test in the belief that an ounce of prevention costs less than a pound of cure for, say, breast or cervical cancer. Tate covers many key points that should be clarified in an intelligent discussion about health care in the United States. Unfortunately, in undermining his credibility with his blatant animus, he will feed political arguments rather than intelligent discussions. (Oct.)

Personally, I prefer to read books by people qualified to speak on the topic, not journalists with an agenda.

Knowing Senator Colbeck, I'd bet that he has read the entire contents of Obamacare. Have a tlk with him.

Let's see, Mr. Colbeck gave a detailed analysis of what is going to happen to our healthcare costs and all DJFeich can say ios that he's an "anti-government tea party guy?" Got any facts to share with us DJ?

I'm HAPPY with the fact that Colbeck doesn't disassociate himself from the Tea Party, which is a Conservative bunch, loosely formed around the concept of smaller government, constitutional values. The Mac Center is a great source of information for Conservatives and speaks truth to power. What DJ, could be wrong with THAT?

Mr. Feich: Give us the facts as you see them. Don't insult other people unless you have better facts. Julianna

Typical liberal... we have to do the work for you.
http://obamacarewatcher.org/articles/489

Brad - when's the last time you heard of somebody leaving the U.S. to get non-exploratory treatment done? Those with universal healthcare consistently receive WORSE care, that's why they come here for treatment and pay through the nose for it.

Don't you worry Brad, it will not succeed and it never has in any country that has it.
If you have insurance now and it is at 20% my friend in 2014 it is going up 100%. This is fact what you are saying is political nonsense. If the government runs it-it will fail just as welfare has and still is. Welfare was not meant to be a career opportunity but it is for many.

OMG Brad, why would any Republican want to claim it was there idea for Obama Care? First and foremost the bill was written by DINOS that pushed it on the people and never read it but made sure they excluded themselves from it. Second it has never worked and like "WELFARE" in America, it will not work. The cheats will always "CHEAT" and the government will look the other way. The bill does not only include Health Care by the way. You need to get the book.

So, PJ - the answer is 4. Four employers who are cutting back hours. Thank you for your "work" in verifying that Colbeck is full of it.

Mark, have you ever been overseas? Have you ever read any of the reports issued by the WHO or multiple other agencies about comparative healthcare and healthcare outcomes? Do some research before posting nonsense. Try to find someone in Germany or other developed industrial country who would want to come here and "pay through the nose". The fact show that we pay MORE than ANY other country for AVERAGE healthcare outcomes and there are plenty of other countries that pay half or less than we do for better outcomes. Mr. Colbeck and the entire Republican party want to deny the evidence that the rest of the world understands.

Niki, why would our costs go up? We already pay more than anyone else in the world. Why do you think that Germans can pay half of what we pay and still offer healthcare to 100% of their citizens at a level higher than ours?

From people like me that want to stop the government from devouring my entire paycheck to support people like you

here you go!http://miboecfr.nictusa.com/cgi-bin/cfr/contrib_anls_res.cgi?doc_seq_no%3D369280%26doc_stmnt_year%3D2013%26com_id%3D514803%26doc_date_proc%3D++++++++++%26sched%3D1A%26doc_type_code%3DA1%26caller%3Dcf_online

it looks like the link is available for current subscribers only, unfortunately.

And you think government run healthcare will be better? Site me a reason why you have so much confidence in government run programs... I'll be right here waiting for that reply

OK, how about medicare having a 4% administrative overhead while private insurance companies can have up to 30%?

Well said!

Sorry Sam, better get your info straight. Both things you just cited are untrue

I would be thrilled to pay 50% in taxes, if it meant I wouldn't lose my home/car/savings if I got cancer or was in a bad accident. I'd also like to know my community receives decent basic healthcare, so raise my taxes & let me be the first to tell for-profit insurers to take a long walk off a short pier!

All this is leading us closer & closer to the goal of universal healthcare, shame on America for allowing corporations to control who lives & who dies of curable, preventable illnesses. Other nations with universal healthcare may not have perfect systems, but they're all better than the American policy of employer sponsored insurance.

------"I would be thrilled to pay 50% in taxes, if it meant I wouldn't lose my home/car/savings if I got cancer or was in a bad accident. I'd also like to know my community receives decent basic healthcare, so raise my taxes & let me be the first to tell for-profit insurers to take a long walk off a short pier!"---------

If that's the case, I don't know why you call yourself Jo "Freedom." Does that mean you support a 50% tax rate on the half of our citizens who currently pay nothing?

Sandy J, I am willing to bet that when one of the people supporting this health care plan has a family member get sick {a senior} and are told by the government run health care program that they will not do anything more to help them but they can euthanasia them - we will hear some different blogs. If the bill was good the government would not use it or they would have included themselves in it instead of excluding themselves and their familes from it.

Niki, that's just silly. Show me where there is anyone or any bill talking about euthanasia.

It is funny to me that people break out in hives when the money that they pay is called "taxes" yet seem to be happy to shell out outrageous "premiums" for bad service.

Your link list seven employers (many who are Republican owned and therefore have political motivations) who are claiming that they MIGHT lay off workers. Even one of your examples, Stryker, says it only MIGHT have to lay off 5% of its workers (but it might not because of Medicare expansion). No numbers. No facts. This balanced against millions of people who will get healthcare coverage. If your link is your example of "facts" than it is not me who needs the education.

PurrFect Sam! You're good a calling people names but the character, integrity and just plain good looks of the Tea Party members would outshine the likes of you ANYDAY! Spelling notwithstanding! Educate me please: what's BTY? I know since you're so perfect that it couldn't be a misspelling. BTW, what's so bad about the Koch brothers? They EARNED their money, didn't get it from the gov and are supporting that which they believe in. Not like our many politicians that have gotten rich thru insider trading and sweetheart deals.

Who is playing the DINO organization Sam? George Sorros and the Unions that already control the people. And Sam, you are pathetic. You can leave anytime and go to a communist run country - there are afew that will take you in just like the people you support today are.

Well, well Sam, we spell quite correctly and OUR SIGNS do not read as follows:
Communist, Socialist, Marxism. Like the signs from the Al Sharpton, Union rallys.
If that is what you want, I am sure many "Communist" countries are willing to take you in. Leave while there is still fight in you because you won't have it there.

There is no such thing as a Communist country. Never was. I guess explaining to you the difference between Communist and Socialist would be wasting my breath, though.

Well Patch Possum, why are people that seem to want America back called names but your ignorance comes through so strong. The so called "Tea Baggers" seem to be much more intelligent than many of the people posting, like yourself. Oh, I bet I know why, you were educated in the Public School System run by the government which started under Jimmy Carter. You can't think for yourself-you need others to do it for you.

Nice try NIkki, but you evaded the question. Why are Republicans sticking tiny appropriations into bills to prevent a public referendum? This was never the intent of the law and is clearly an abuse of power.

Want American back? From whom? The majority of Americans who don't vote the way you do?

Since when did the LIBERAL Magazine TIME carry any weight with any intelligent person.?

I guess if you get all your news from Fox or Rush Limbaugh, anything else is liberally biases.

Should be required reading for anyone of any political party who is interested in the cost of health care. If you don't agree with it, then argue against it. With real arguments and facts - not just "I don't like what they are saying so I am just going to ignore it and call them names".

Greece and Spain are not in the situation they are because of universal health care. If universal health care were the cause then countries like Germany would also be in trouble.

Spam

Ok, three examples. How many of them will actually cut jobs once they find out that the sky really isn't falling? Yes, today's rates ARE ridiculous - so let's do something about them!